Homeworld 3 is the realization of the original team’s ideas for Homeworld 2.
At least that’s the word from the staff and Blackbird Interactive, the studio that is making Homeworld 3 under Gearbox Publishing. Blackbird released a new behind the scenes video featuring their CEO and co-founder Rob Cunningham, as well as the game’s director, Lance Mueller.
Lance and Rob had already worked together on Company of Heroes 2, and more recently, Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak. However, Rob has a deeper history with Homeworld, as he was co-founder of Relic Entertainment, the studio that started the franchise. He was also creative director for the company, and in that capacity, art director for Homeworld and Homeworld 2.
But as we had explained, the Homeworld 2 that we got in 2003 was a compromise of the game that Relic really wanted to create back then. As visually impressive as Homeworld 2 was at the time (and it can still be interesting to watch today), it did not actually carry all the ideas that Relic had.
Today, we see that Homeworld 3 is featuring large abandoned ships, and gigantic asteroid fields, that the ships can fly around in. These ships are more than visual spectacle – you can work strategies around circumnavigating them in the middle of battles. They also describe entering tunnels to get out of enemy radar.
Along with that visual spectacle and new strategic gameplay, Blackbird has adapted the game for modern and classic players. So, there are modern controls, based on how players today play MOBAs and RTSes. Classic controls are still in the game as well, so if you were someone who still has that muscle memory, it will still serve you well here. We don’t know if it has controller support for now, but the modern controls suggests that they can figure out how to make it possible.
And another modern feature that is being introduced to Homeworld 3 is tactical pause, seemingly an idea Rob and company copied from his former studio, Relic, who introduced the idea for Company of Heroes 3.
But one thing that hasn’t changed from the franchise is its emphasis on cinematic combat. You can still freely turn the camera around to how you see the game, being your own personal Lakitu, so to speak. It certainly makes one wonder if other RTS games could take more inspiration from Homeworld 3, to give their games a more interesting visual and strategic flair.
Homeworld 3 is releasing on March 8, 2024, exclusively on Windows, on Steam and Epic Game Store. You can watch the behind the scenes video below.
